Captured Fugitive Will Be Extradited

Captured fugitive Christopher Rambert, whose escape from prison touched off a nationwide manhunt that was featured on the television show “America’s Most Wanted,” waived his right to fight extradition to Massachusetts on Tuesday, where he faces life in prison for rape and assault.

The FBI and the West Covina police captured Rambert without incident Saturday as he slept in the Comfort Inn on Garvey Avenue. Authorities found a loaded semiautomatic pistol in his room.

Rambert, who was led into court Tuesday with his hands shackled to his waist, seemed anxious to put an end to his West Coast odyssey and return to Massachusetts.

“I sure do!” he told Los Angeles Municipal Judge Susan Isacoff when asked if he was willing to waive his right to fight extradition.

Rambert, 23, had been on the run since Oct. 1, when he and two other inmates escaped from the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Bridgewater for the treatment of sexually dangerous offenders. The two other inmates were captured four days later.

Normally, such prison escapes are routine matters for police, but Rambert--who had been sentenced to 10 concurrent life terms--was no ordinary fugitive. His case had attracted nationwide attention on “America’s Most Wanted,” a television series that dramatizes crimes committed by some of the country’s most dangerous fugitives.

At a West Covina press conference Saturday, Rambert’s arrest was portrayed by police and FBI agents as another example of how effective the television show has been in generating tips from the public that help police apprehend dangerous criminals. The FBI displayed a photograph of Rambert, who brazenly donned an “America’s Most Wanted” T-shirt for the cameras.

A West Covina police lieutenant said he was told that Rambert was the worst criminal to come out of Massachusetts since the notorious Boston Strangler.

“He is not the Boston Strangler, but he is a very dangerous man who has committed numerous brutal rapes,” said Cpl. Kevin Horton, who heads the Massachusetts State Police violent fugitive arrest squad.

In the early 1980s, Rambert was known as the “fire escape rapist” because he would break into apartments and houses in an affluent section of Boston and assault women at knifepoint, said Capt. Curt Wood of the Massachusetts Department of Correction.

Rambert was convicted as a juvenile in 1983 of raping seven women and given life imprisonment, Wood said.

“We consider him extremely dangerous based on his history of violence both inside and outside of prison,” he said. “We feel relieved that the guy has been caught. His victims will be happy to to hear the news.”

Massachusetts officials said they received a tip of Rambert’s whereabouts after the Oct. 10 airing of “America’s Most Wanted.” Rambert had been seen driving a stolen green pickup truck with Georgia license plates, and Massachusetts authorities asked the FBI to investigate.

“The television show did help,” Wood said. “After the show aired we received numerous calls from the public, and a few solid tips.”

News of the arrest broke in time for the program to air Rambert’s capture Sunday night, said Phil Gonzales, the show’s publicist. He said that of the 198 fugitives profiled on the show since February of 1988, 81 have been captured.

On Tuesday, Rambert’s public defender, Armando Joaquin Wood, said his client probably waived extradition so that he could go back to the relative comfort of a Massachusetts jail cell.

“I talk to a lot of prisons from all over the country,” said Wood, who specializes in extradition cases. “And after a few days in an overcrowded Los Angeles County jail they all want to go home.”

Massachusetts officials said they expect to pick up Rambert later this week.